Vote for your favourite Davey Cartoon

Clean Air in London and Andy Davey, the award winning cartoonist, have published the last in a series of 12 cartoons about air pollution in London

The Green Party wins the “Clean Air Championships” followed closely by Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg as Boris Johnson scraps with Nigel Farage in the foreground

Clean Air in London has launched a Facebook poll to find peoples’ favourite cartoon

Clean Air in London (CAL) commissioned a series of cartoons from award winning cartoonist Andy Davey to highlight particular themes about air pollution in London. A Flickr album with 15 cartoons can be seen at:

“For me, this was a fantastic opportunity to work with the good guys (Clean Air in London) on a very important theme and have the luxury of time and space to elaborate the theme over a coherent series of 12 cartoons.

“We used Boris as a thread throughout the series because the largely invisible subject matter of air pollution needed a visible focus for the humour. What bigger, better focus than the Mayor himself? Boris has deliberately built a clownish jocular persona and, of course, all air pollution ‘roads’ in London lead quickly to him!

“I think this project clearly shows the power of the cartoon to illustrate a serious point, to get people talking and to provide a laugh. Over the years, cartoons have been dropped by several newspapers due to financial constraints but those that remain are still widely enjoyed. Cartoons encapsulate a topic in a snapshot. It takes only a few seconds to read a cartoon but several minutes – or more – to absorb a written article. What’s more, the art form is versatile – serious or funny, subversive or absurd – and the drawn image still retains its power.

“Clean Air in London’s cartoon campaign also shows the emerging power of social media as an alternative to the traditional newspaper form. The cartoons were distributed almost entirely by Simon on Twitter, Facebook and Flickr. Whatever publicity we realised was achieved through his empathy for those media alone.”

Simon Birkett, Founder and Director of Clean Air in London, said:

“We wanted a new way to communicate complex messages to our existing audience and another to engage new people in the scandal of air pollution. Andy Davey’s cartoons have miraculously done both!

“After the amazing success of the first three cartoons, which killed several birds with each stone and coincided nicely with milestones such as the European Commission launching infraction against the UK and the announcement of Boris’s so-called ‘ultra-low emission zone’, we decided to commission a calendar’s worth of 12 cartoons!

“Each cartoon tackles a different theme around air pollution. As we approached the local and European elections we decided the last theme should be the election itself. We’ve called it the “Clean Air Championships” which the Green Party has won followed closely by Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg as Boris Johnson scrapped with Nigel Farage in the foreground.

“On 8 March we asked the Mayor to endorse the cartoons to stimulate debate about air pollution. Amazingly, Boris’s refusal to do so has done more to promote the cartoons than his endorsement would have done. People may now be laughing as much at Boris’s sense of humour failure as the wonderful cartoons themselves!

“It has been great fun working with Andy Davey on these wonderful cartoons.”

ENDS

Notes

1. Copyright

Accredited media channels are invited to contact Clean Air in London or Andy Davey to request a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to publish the cartoons for single use on a single platform. Other requests will be considered.

Clean Air in London’s Mission is to achieve urgently and sustainably full compliance with WHO guidelines for air quality throughout London and elsewhere. It works closely with other campaign groups and a wider network of supporters and volunteers to identify and build understanding of the most important issues and encourage decisive action on them.

Clean Air in London’s immediate priority is to see that air quality laws are enforced rigorously in London in 2014 (and thereafter). Clean Air in London believes that if we comply fully with relevant laws Britain can show the world how to tackle successfully air quality, climate change and sustainability issues.

Clean Air in London is a not-for-profit organisation funded by donations, sponsors and other supporters. It is not a charity in part because a registered charity is not allowed to have political objectives or take part in political lobbying (other than in a generally educational sense). Clean Air in London may wish to participate in such activities.

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Clean Air in London is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales, with company number 7413769 and registered office Thames House, Mere Park, Dedmere Road, Marlow, Buckinghamshire, SL7 1PB